Affiliation:
1. Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, School of Molecular and Microbial
Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Pili
of pathogenic
Neisseria
are major virulence factors associated
with adhesion, cytotoxicity, twitching motility,
autoaggregation, and DNA transformation. Pili are modified
posttranslationally by the addition of phosphorylcholine. However, no
genes involved in either the biosynthesis or the transfer of
phosphorylcholine in
Neisseria meningitidis
have been
identified. In this study, we identified five candidate open reading
frames (ORFs) potentially involved in the biosynthesis or transfer of
phosphorylcholine to pilin in
N. meningitidis
.
Insertional mutants were constructed for each ORF in
N
.
meningitidis
strain C311#3 to determine their effect
on phosphorylcholine expression. The effect of the mutant ORFs on the
modification by phosphorylcholine was analyzed by Western analysis with
phosphorylcholine-specific monoclonal antibody TEPC-15. Analysis of the
mutants showed that ORF NMB0415, now defined as
pptA
(pilin
phosphorylcholine transferase A), is involved in the addition of
phosphorylcholine to pilin in
N. meningitidis
.
Additionally, the phase variation (high frequency on-off switching of
expression) of phosphorylcholine on pilin is due to changes in a
homopolymeric guanosine tract in
pptA
.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Immunology,Microbiology,Parasitology
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